Every country has a story about itself.
Its enemies have another.

Read the original propaganda in context and follow each claim back to its source. Neither anonymity nor official authority makes a claim true. These are educational analyses, not endorsements.

Illustrative Obsidian Registry signals desk concept

Intercepted narratives

History looks different from the other side.

Look for the audience, the intended emotion, the missing context, and the benefit to the messenger.

Open the propaganda archives guide →

Four contrasting signals

INTERCEPT 001 / HISTORICAL CONTEXT

United States / Cold War civil defense

Message: Official campaigns encouraged families to practice surviving a nuclear attack.

Context: The U.S. government distributed Duck and Cover materials in 1951 as civil defense messaging.

Reading against the grain: The message promoted preparedness while also normalizing the possibility of nuclear war.

Source trail: Duck and Cover (Castle Films for the Federal Civil Defense Administration, 1951), George Mason University Special Collections, George Mason University Special Collections

Connected file · first pages freeFile 037: Congress Had a Secret Bunker. Your Family Wasn't on the List.The public got a cartoon turtle. Congress got the Greenbrier.

INTERCEPT 002 / HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Soviet Union / Anti-capitalist imagery

Message: Soviet visual messaging frequently portrayed capitalism as exploitation and the Soviet project as liberation.

Context: State-produced posters were part of a larger ideological competition throughout the Cold War.

Reading against the grain: Ask who was depicted as the victim, who as the hero, and what domestic problems the poster excluded.

Source trail: Soviet Union poster collection, c. 1914 to 2000, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Connected file · first pages freeFile 046: The Computer Said Nuclear Launch. One Man Didn't Believe It.The night a Soviet officer had to decide whether the other side's story was true.

INTERCEPT 003 / HISTORICAL CONTEXT

British Empire / Wartime information

Message: Posters asked civilians to control speech and contribute to the war effort.

Context: British WWII public information campaigns mixed security instructions with morale building.

Reading against the grain: The appeal to unity was useful for national security and also shaped what citizens felt safe discussing.

Source trail: Fougasse, Careless Talk Costs Lives (Ministry of Information, 1940), Victoria and Albert Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum

Connected file · first pages freeFile 067: The Flu Killed Millions. The Papers Were Told to Smile.An earlier war, the same instinct: keep the public calm, keep the news quiet.

INTERCEPT 004 / HISTORICAL CONTEXT

China / Political poster traditions

Message: Posters framed collective effort and ideological loyalty as personal virtue.

Context: Visual propaganda was widely used in the Mao era, with striking shifts in subject and style over time.

Reading against the grain: Compare the ideal citizen in the artwork with the historical lives of its intended audience.

Source trail: IISH and Stefan R. Landsberger collections of Chinese propaganda posters, chineseposters.net, chineseposters.net

Connected file · first pages freeFile 066: The Attack That Started the Vietnam War Never HappenedEvery flag has a version of this. Here is one that started a war.

The summaries are ours. The originals are linked. Read them before you trust us, or anyone.

Every country has a story about itself.Its enemies have another.